Dhaka College students demand half-fare bus ride in the city

Hundreds of students from Dhaka College demonstrated outside their college on Thursday demanding half-fare for bus in the city for students, UNB reports.

The demonstration halted traffic on New Market-Mirpur Road for one and a half hours causing sufferings to commuters.

Tamim, a Masters student of Dhaka College complained that buses charge fare more than the government-fixed rates. The fare collectors and drivers misbehave with passengers for refusing to pay the extra money, he said.

Traffic on the busy road returned to normal around 11:00 am after police intervention.

The students also threatened to go for movement on next Saturday and Sunday if their demand goes unheeded.

On 15 November, a college student was pushed off by a bus driver following an altercation over bus fare in the city’s Rampura area. Protesting the incident, some students halted movement of 50 buses of ‘Raida Paribahan’ that day.

The government increased the prices of diesel and kerosene by Tk 15 per litre on the night of 3 November.

On 7 November, the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) increased the fares for intra-city and inter-district buses by 26.5 per cent and 27 per cent respectively following the demand of the bus owners.